The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Limonium plant, botanically known as Limonium sinuatum, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Esm Ara.
The new Limonium is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador. The objective of the breeding program was to create new freely branching Limonium cultivars with compact inflorescences and purple-colored flowers.
The new Limonium originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in August, 2001 in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador of a proprietary selection of Limonium sinuatum identified as Code 136, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent and an unidentified selection of Limonium sinuatum, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Limonium was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador since February, 2002, has shown that the unique features of this new Limonium are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.